Chapter 34: The Hand I Finally Struck.

The grand corridor was empty and eerily silent.

With most of the guests gathered in the hall, the maids were probably waiting in the antechamber.

A noble young lady would never walk alone—even for a short time.

Especially not Amelia, who was attending as the partner of the Fourth Prince Sarju.

But back in her rural territory, she had often walked alone.

She had even joined the common folk to help with irrigation in the fields.

Because of that habit, she had thought lightly—surely it was fine inside the royal castle.

“Oh?”

Noticing someone standing in the garden, Amelia halted.

A young lady in a dress was looking around in distress, as though desperately searching for something important she had lost.

Without hesitation, Amelia stepped into the garden and called out.

“Is something the matter?”

“…Ah.”

The girl gave a small start, then clenched both hands tightly.

“I seem to have dropped my ring. It was my mother’s keepsake… something very precious to me.”

Her voice trembled as though she might cry at any moment.

Amelia asked what the ring looked like and began searching the area as well.

“I’m so sorry… asking a complete stranger to help me search…”

“It’s fine. It’s important to you, isn’t it?”

She knew she should hurry back to the hall, but she couldn’t leave the distressed girl alone.

Guards were stationed all around the garden perimeter.

When they noticed and hurried over, Amelia explained that they were looking for a lost ring and asked them to return to their posts.

They couldn’t afford to neglect security inside the royal castle.

“Ah—is this it?”

After a while, Amelia spotted the ring fallen among the flower bed and picked it up.

It had rolled quite far.

She started to call out to the girl—when a voice suddenly came from behind.

“Excuse me, but it seems you dropped your hair ornament.”

“Eh?”

Turning around, she saw a guard bending down to pick something up.

It was the yellow sapphire hairpiece she had been wearing.

She gave a wry smile at the irony—having just found someone else’s lost item, now she had lost her own—and accepted it.

“Thank you.”

Her hair had come completely undone.

She needed to return the ring quickly and get back to Sarju.

“The young lady from earlier seems to have gone toward the rear gate.”

Following the guard’s directions, Amelia headed that way to return the ring.

She was about to call out to the girl, who was wandering with a lost expression—when suddenly her arm was seized and she was yanked into the shadow of the building.

“…!”

It was the same guard who had picked up her hairpiece.

Before she could demand what he thought he was doing, Amelia realized who he really was.

“…Lease?”

Something about the guard’s voice had felt familiar.

Even with his hair color changed, she could never mistake the figure she had known since childhood.

“Why are you here…?”

He—who had been exposed by Sarju for trying to frame her, then eloped with his lover Seira—why was he disguised as a royal guard?

“I came to pick you up, Amelia.”

“…Pick me up?”

She echoed the words, unable to comprehend.

“What about your lover? Didn’t you elope to uphold your ‘true love’?”

“After that, Seira and I parted ways almost immediately. When she heard I’d lose the right to use magic and become a commoner, she ran back home.”

“That’s…”

Amelia was speechless at the pathetic end to the “true love” that had caused such a scandal and tarnished her name.

Seira must have returned home, but the Viscount Caria house had kept it secret.

“So you came crawling back because she dumped you? You actually thought you could return?”

“From the beginning, you were always outstanding, Amelia. No matter how hard I tried, I could never beat you. I’ve been jealous of you all this time.”

She glared at him—how dare he say such things now?—but Lease averted his eyes and continued in a small voice.

“When we entered the academy, I was reminded even more painfully of how superior you are. The thought of marrying you and being compared to you for the rest of my life—I couldn’t bear it.”

He had believed that once Amelia enrolled the following year, even more people would praise her.

So he spread malicious rumors to diminish her worth.

How utterly selfish.

Amelia had suffered without ever understanding why.

Yet despite all their years together, she had never once noticed Lease’s jealousy eating away at him.

Even so, she could never forgive him.

Every time she saw him, the pain of those days came rushing back.

Surely he felt the same.

That was why never meeting again would have been best.

“Why come to see me now? Our engagement is dissolved. You were expelled from the academy.”

No matter how rare an earth magic user he was, anyone who failed to graduate from the academy was forbidden from using magic.

Magic was an immense power granted only to nobles.

That was why noble children were obligated to enroll—to be tested on whether they could wield it properly.

Normally, Lease should have had a mana-sealing bracelet fitted the moment his expulsion was processed.

“That’s why I came to get you. Come with me to the Empire. They desperately need users of earth and water magic right now. If you come with me—someone who can use water magic—they’ve promised to grant us a peerage. We can start over there.”

At the mention of the Empire, Amelia shuddered.

Beyond the steep mountain range to the south lay a vast empire.

It had almost no contact with surrounding nations, so little was known.

It possessed a powerful army and enormous territory, yet magic was said to be almost nonexistent there.

That was why they coveted magical power so fiercely—interfering in Third Prince Julius’s marriage proposals, and even attempting to abduct young Sarju ten years ago.

She recalled Crown Prince Alexis’s warning before the party: there might be Empire agents infiltrating.

Had Lease allied with them?

“…Why would I ever go with you?”

“With all the terrible rumors that spread about you, I doubt you’ll find a new match. That’s why you’re throwing yourself into your studies to become a magic researcher, isn’t it? I’m sorry. If we go there, I can give you a life without want. So please…”

“I’m not going to the Empire.”

Amelia cut him off sharply.

“Yes, a lot happened. But right now, I’m truly happy. Do you really think I’d be glad to see you come back after everything and say you’ve come to ‘pick me up’?”

Moreover, the Empire was the enemy that had once tried to kidnap Sarju when he was a child.

She could never side with his enemies.

“Amelia, I—”

“That’s enough. Release Amelia.”

A voice rang out suddenly.

Turning, Amelia saw that guards had surrounded them without her noticing.

At the center stood Sarju, his expression severe.

“Sarju-sama!”

As she tried to run to him, Lease seized her arm again.

“Amelia, I—”

“…Enough!”

Amelia spun around, wrenched her arm free, and slapped Lease across the cheek with all her strength.

He staggered and fell; without sparing him another glance, she ran straight to Sarju.

“Sarju-sama.”

“…I’m glad you’re safe.”

He pulled her into his arms at once.

The warmth of the arms enveloping her back finally brought relief.

“He seems to be colluding with the Empire. He said he came to take me there.”

At her testimony, the air around them grew razor-sharp with tension.

Lease—who had been stunned by the slap—was immediately restrained by the guards and handed over to the knight order.

A soft sobbing reached her ears.

Looking up, Amelia saw the girl who had been searching for her ring, now watching and crying.

Apparently she had noticed something amiss and called the guards.

“I’m so sorry… because of me…”

“No—thank you. I found the ring.”

She handed over the ring she had picked up.

The girl thanked her repeatedly, bowed deeply, and left.

Amelia let out a relieved breath—only to be pulled back into Sarju’s embrace.

“Does your hand hurt?”

“…No. Actually, it feels a little better. I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”

Back in front of the library, when he had grabbed her wrist, she had seriously considered slapping him.

Finally, she had done it.

“I see. If possible, I wanted to hit him myself.”

“Eh? You, Sarju-sama?”

She couldn’t even imagine such a sight.

Surprised, she widened her eyes—only for Sarju to gently stroke her black hair.

“Yes. He tried to take you away from me.”